Despite the problems with Linux as have been pointed out so far, I have found Linux to be better than Windows and OSX, and not just because I hate proprietary software.

With WINE working properly, I am even able to play my 'Windows-only' games easily. Although that did take a while as I had to install a lot of 32-bit packages on my 64-bit system for everything to work properly.

I think the degree to which Linux is useful to you is dependant on how comfortable you are with using the terminal. If you put a little bit of time into learning how to use it, then you are able to troubleshoot your own problems much faster than you could on Windows (and presumably OSX, which I don't have, but have had bad experiences trying to fix simple problems for it).

I am using Arch Linux, which may mean that some of these thoughts do not apply to all ways of using Linux, but the thing is that no matter what distro of Linux you use, there is the helpful community out there for when all else fails.

The one problem I have with Linux, and the open-source concept in general is exactly what @princec and some others have said above. There is potential in Linux, but people get too excited with the new freedom it brings and spiral off in many directions without getting anything useful done.

Perhaps one day open-source will become mature, and then Linux will be able to become the ultimate OS.

The reason I don't use linux as a desktop PC OS is because I don't believe that is where its strengths are.

Linux is a great operating system because it is open-sourced, free and very easily adapted to any platform. It is the OS to use when you don't have a compatible OS for what you are working on.

It is a great OS for microcontrollers, or control systems. It's great when you need the ability to fine-tune your kernel to do something as a software\hardware engineer.

As a desktop PC, it makes simple tasks very tedious. There are particular distributions of linux that are great for the casual desktop user, but I'd say more than 65% of the true linux community aren't targeting casual desktop users. This is an area Microsoft\Mac will always lead because they target casual to intermediate desktop users who are working on predictable platforms.

As a desktop PC, it makes simple tasks very tedious. There are particular distributions of linux that are great for the casual desktop user, but I'd say more than 65% of the true linux community aren't targeting casual desktop users. This is an area Microsoft\Mac will always lead because they target casual to intermediate desktop users who are working on predictable platforms.

I know tons of casual GNU Linux users. Generally, they just ask me to install it and that's all. I use Mageia Linux on my machines and theirs. I accept to do so only when I'm sure that those people won't go back to Windows and I use a very simple distro so that people can "fix" the few problems by themselves and with the help of the community. The only person who asked me to install Linux and reinstalled Windows several months after got a virus directly in the boot loader and I no longer helped her as she got what she deserved. There are less than 50 known virus under GNU Linux whereas there are more than 500 000 virus under Windows.

As a desktop PC, it makes simple tasks very tedious. There are particular distributions of linux that are great for the casual desktop user, but I'd say more than 65% of the true linux community aren't targeting casual desktop users. This is an area Microsoft\Mac will always lead because they target casual to intermediate desktop users who are working on predictable platforms.

Windows and Mac are great that they make an easy-to-use system for simple tasks, but then they fall flat when you want to do something more complex (or even a simple task with one tiny difference). Meanwhile, Linux has a few glitches for doing simple tasks, but after a one-off fix, can be just as efficient, if not more so, than Windows/Mac. And even then, there is no overhead for doing complex tasks.

The difficulty of a race should be in the race itself, not in getting to the start line. One should not have more trouble getting to the start of a 1500m race than if they were doing a 100m race.

I switch between windows and some linux distro every 6 months so I can have the feel for both cause i end up getting tired of one or the other. but yea, linux allows a lot more ways to do stuff dev wise.

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